"If music be the food of [film], play on!"
Debussy's Clair de Lune.
Ugh.. Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Even typing its name now, staring over the collection of
italicized Time New Roman's that make up its name, brings a subtle
grin to my face. As I search through YouTube for a version to embed
in this blog post I'm having trouble keeping my emotions in check. I
settled on this: ("Clair de Lune" by Angela Hewitt) because I think it's only fair I refer
to a recording by one of my nation's hidden gems. Watching the video, the only thing that might
have struck me more than the piece itself had to be her dress (her
facial expressions a close second though). It must've been this
comparative "zone" I'm in right now but right away it reminded me of
that green dress Cecelia was wearing when she confronted Robbie about
the letter and continued on to the library. Thinking about it now, I
feel it's not too much of a stretch to say that the music of the film
outshines the beauty of that green dress, maybe even Keira herself. (My girlfriend would shoot me for that, so let's
hope she doesn't find this blog) Thankfully, the Academy seemed to
agree with me because Dario Marianelli received the Oscar for "Best
Original Score" in 2007 - the only Oscar win Atonement
took home in all.
As a student hoping to go on to major in the
performance of classical music maybe I'm a little biased. But, for me at least, the
soundtrack will remain an all-time favourite without a doubt. As we move on to discuss the emotional and artistic impact that the music had on the film I encourage you to listen to the soundtrack as you continue on through my blog. As it did for the movie, I find it compliments my writing in all the right places. (I could probably use the help anyway)
I think it goes without saying that the most important of those factors
that affect how a movie is adapted to film is most definitely the
choice of music, in my opinion anyway. Ask anybody what their favourite
"#Epic" movie is and 9 times out of 10 it's a movie
containing the music of Hans Zimmer. I encourage you to check out his works right now if you aren't familiar as he is, without a doubt,
the most famous composer of mood
music.
Being that Clair
de Lune
is the only song in the movie that isn't original, for creating the
music that does so well in embellishing the mood of almost every
scene Dario Marianelli fully deserves his nod. The following are a
couple original songs by Marianelli that did the best, by my ears and
eye, in embellishing the mood and theme of Atonement:
Example 1:
Flowers and the fountain (Cecelia): Here I found the artistic capabilities of music in film shone the brightest. In the moments that immediately precede what is shown in the video (when Cecelia enters the room and pre-arranges the flowers) "Briony's Theme" had been playing from the scene before only to quiet down and reintroduce only the drivingly-tense descending triads that can be found in the theme as well. So here, when I say "artistic capabilities" I mean that it seems to do the job of the theme music implies that there is a "driving tension" that exists for within her. The connection comes when Cecelia plucks a string on a piano in the room that happens to be identical in pitch to the tonic (lowest note) of the descending triad in the music; that is, it's the same as the last note before the the theme cuts out completely. This fully justifies the claim that the tension existed "within her" by suggesting that the music must've been in her head and there existed a need to express it on the piano itself. When I recognized that this is how the director and composer chose to move between scenes I couldn't but feel like it was pretty clever; if sitting beside the director I would've certainly turned to him to say "Ohhh, I see what you did there... Very artistic."
of connecting the scenes beautifully as well as providing insight into the characters. In this contemplative state that we find Cecelia in as she pre-arranges the flowers, the isolated element (broken piano chords)
This aesthetically pleasing musical editing continues when returning
to Briony's perspective because there is a reintroduction of the descending piano triads as soon as the window closes and reveals Briony in that same contemplative state of her sister in the scene prior. This can only serve to force the viewer to make these same conclusions about the mood that I've managed to describe while also staying artistic to a T. Example 2:
Briony's Theme: This song is the easily the one
most often played and plays into stereotypical mood music motifs
while still maintaining its uniqueness. The theme is introduced in
the first scene of the play where Briony is finishing writing Trials
of Arabella. The choice to place it right after the viewer is clearly shown how much command Briony possesses over the typewriter is brilliant because the viewer is immediately aware of it as a theme. It starts with the rhythmic
beating of the typing and soon adds that stereotypical
"drivingly-tense" triads in succession I alluded to before. This, of course, serves to
drive the pace and embody Briony as a character at the same time, showing again the multifaceted role of the score in this film. As
her "theme music", having the mysterious/suspenseful air
(brought about by the frantic strumming of minor passages by the cellos and viola)
seems to suggest that Briony - the (type)writer - is equally as complicated,
quick/intelligent, and melancholy.
I could go on for hours writing about each individual song and how
well it compliments the film but I've already far surpassed the word
count for this project. As hard as it is to believe, this was me
being concise. Anyways.. I can only hope that through the reading of this post a greater understanding was reached of the influence that music has on film. This is just one of the many reasons I hope to explore in
this blog for why the novel-to-movie adaptation is so fascinating.
No comments:
Post a Comment